Fasteners for outwales

Ezra Smith

Ezra Smith

Curious about Wooden Canoes
Hi, I am getting started on a 15ft "Ami" canoe from Stewart River Boatworks, and am running down all of the materials. My goal with this boat is lightness, and on my last boat I did 1 3/4 #8 screws. I am wondering if people have any experience with different screws that are not so bulky? I also want some smaller screw heads so that the wear and tear on the outwale does not eventually expose my paddle shaft to unneeded dings.

Also, bent the stems yesterday. We used a 2" water pipe which was upright in a burn barrel. We put a reducer on the end to keep the stem inside. The boiling action caused much too much water to get forced out at once, which meant that we ran out of water in there without realizing it. Enjoy the picture of the result. The other piece of wood is a cutoff to demonstrate the initial length.
 

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  • 20210422 Ami stem.jpeg
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I have a wagner wall paper stripper that makes good steam for about 45 minutes. Any home made steam box will do. Or even a sewer hose from an RV or plastic steam bag. I also have a stainless steel boiler tank 8" x 8" x 72" that I can boil ten gallons of water or more. AS to the screws, I've been using 1 1/2" x 8 . they cost a bit more for some reason. I've been putting a screw every third rib instead of eveery other. And I can make the outwale a bit lighter for the shorter screw. I have an old town restored by a pro 20+ years ago that has the outwale a half inch thick/wide and it has held up perfectly. It is ash. I can't speak to using a no 6 size wood screw, but it might work. carefully countersink to avoid chip out or stick outs.
 
Dave Wermuth said:
I have a wagner wall paper stripper that makes good steam for about 45 minutes. Any home made steam box will do.
Click to expand...

I used our steam box with the last boat's stems, but they kept snapping. May have been b/c of kiln dried, but thought it would be good to boil instead. Round 2 worked out fine.
Every 3rd rib sounds like too few, but it sounds like it worked fine for you. I may try that. I would go with 1 1/2" as well since the rails are all 3/4" before beveling, and I would want to be able to counter sink them a bit. Anyone have thoughts or experience with #6 screws instead?
 
The Penn Yans I've worked on all used #6 flat head wood screws for the outer rails. They work. But don't try to use #6s in holes that once had #8s - use the rubs in between.
 
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